Automatic rim rolling apparatus



July 6, 1965 F. RUKAVINA AUTOMATIC RIM ROLLING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet1 Filed Aug. 20, 1962 ACC UMULATOR STATION OUTPUT RIM ROLLING 24 STATION INVENTOR. Fran Pu/ravz'na BY ATT 'Y.

ORIENTlNG STATION July 6, 1965 F. RUKAVINA AUTOMATIC RIM ROLLINGAPPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 20, 1962 I INVENTOR Frank [Pu/(avma ATT'Y.

HEAT

SUPPLY II I United States Patent 0 3,192,565 AUTQMATIC Rllid R S-LEJENGAPPARATUS Frank Ruhavina, es Plaines, Ella, assignor to Illinois 'ioolWorks Inn, Chicago, iii, a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 2%, 1962,Ser. No. 218,075 6 Qlaims. ($1. lit-4% This invention relates to amethod and apparatus for curling beads and more particularly isconcerned with apparatus for automatically curling heads on extremelythin-walled plastic cups and the like which are received from anintermittent source.

Thin wall plastic cups and containers have many advantages overconventional paper cups or containers in that they are moisture-proofand extremely light in weight while of adequate strength. When the cupblanks are cut from a plastic sheet during formation thereof, a certainamount of flash is left by the molding apparatus along the cut edge andthis presents a sharp edge often knife-like in character. To guardagainst injury to fingers and to the mouth and to further strengthen thecup or other container, the edge of the cup is folded over to provide arolled lip with the previously mentioned cut edge positioned in aninaccessible position next to the cup body.

While this invention will be discussed relative to a plastic cup forassociation with vending machines, it is to be especially noted thatother types of plastic containers such as ice cream containers, cotta echeese containers, and other packaging containers are expresslycontemplated.

The plastic c ps are molded in a machine at a rate which often exceeds300 per minute and the characteristic of the molding machine is suchthat the cups are delivered in batches of l2, 16, or 25. For fastremoval of the batches of cups in the molding machine, it has been foundadvantageous to blow the cups, which are extremely light in weight, fromthe molding area to an orienting station which orients all of the cupsin a particular position. A preferred type of orienting apparatus is ofthe type set forth in the co-pending application Serial No. 39,009 tiledlune 27, 1960, now Patent No. 3,086,- 822, granted April 23, 1963, andassigned to the same assignee. From the orienting station, the cups aretransported by automatic means to a rim rolling station. The rim rollingapparatus includes a plurality of axially aligned rollerscircumferentially spaced around a central aperture, each roller having aspiral groove which engages the rim of the molded cup and distorts therim to its final shape; at least one of the rollers is heated.

It is most important to have an accumulator station disposed a shortdistance vertically above the rim rolling apparatus to accumulate aplurality of cups as received from the orienting station so that a stackof cups will be presented to the rim rolling apparatus. This isimportant since when the cups are in stacked position the individualcups within the stacks are prevented from becoming cocked, and crossthreading engagement of the rims of an individual cup with the rollersin the rim rolling apparatus is prevented.

it is a general object of this invention to provide a .method andapparatus for automatically rolling rims on thin plastic containers in afast, repetitive, trouble-free manner at high operating speeds.

It is another object of this invention to provide a method and apparatusfor receiving lightweight plastic containers from an intermittentsource, accumulating a predetermined number of containers at a station,and then feeding the containers so accumulated to the rim rollingapparatus.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an accumulatormeans which is work dependent rather than time dependent, which issimple in operation, easy to construct, and well adapted for thepurposes for which it is designed.

The novel features that are considered characteristic of this inventionare set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The inventionitself, however, both as to its organization and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbe best understood by the following description of the s ecificembodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a schematic View of apparatus for practicing the invention,the flow of cups through the apparatus being from left to right;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view, partially in section, showing theaccumulator station of the apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view along lines 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along lines d4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the apparatus including the accumulatorand the rim rolling station;

FIG. 6A is a fragmentary view of the rim portion of a cup as it isreceived from a molding machine prior to the rolling of the rim thereon;and

P16. 65 is a fragmentary sectional view of the rim portion of a cupafter the rim has been rolled thereon by the apparatus shown in FIG. 5.

Cups 8 are received from a molding machine (not shown) and are orientedand have the rims rolled thereon by an apparatus 1% in an automaticmanner as about to be discussed. More particularly, the apparatus 19comprises an orienting station 12 of the type set forth in theaforementioned co-pending application S.N. 39,009 filed the 27th day ofJune 1960, now Patent No. 3,086,- 822, granted April 23, 1963, andassigned to the same a signee, a transporting means 14 including abowler means 16 and a tube means 18 which receives the output from theorienting station 12. The tube means 13 leads to the accumulator station22, it being important to note that the tube means 18 has a verticalportion 29 immediately above the accumulator station 22. From theaccumulator station 22, the cups are automatically passed in anaccumulated batch to the rim rolling station 24 from whence they areautomatically delivered with the rims rolled thereon to the output 26.

It will be appreciated that the cups 6 have their largest diameteradjacent the area where the bead is to be rolled thereon, i.e., at themouth of the container and that the side walls thereof taper inwardly.The cups have a confi uration which permits close nesting, havingtapered side walls with a plurality of gripping rings therein to reduceheat transfer to the fingers of the user, and have a stacking ring areaadjacent the bottom of the cup as best depicted in FIG. 2. The weight ofthe cups is usually in the neighborhood of 1 to 10 grams depending uponthe final usage and requirements of the user. It will also be noted thatthe diameter of the mouth of the cup is less than the axial heightthereof and that the inside of the tube 18, particularly at portion 29,has an inside diameter closely approximating the diameter of the moutharea of the cup 3. It will also be appreciated due to the tapered sideWalls, that an individual cup may be cocked relative to the side wallsof the tube. This is particularly undesirable as shall become apparenthereinafter.

When the cups 8 leave station 12, they are preferably oriented with themouth portion thereof leading the bottom wall portion. When the cups 8proceed through the tube 18 and reach the accumulator station 22 underthe positive pressure imparted by the blower means 16 which blows airthrough the tube 18, the lead cup will engage a movable abutment meansat the accumulator station 22 as will be now described.

The accumulator station 22 comprises a pair of slots 28and 30 which areformed in portion 29 and aligned with the vertical axis thereof, the twoportions being preferably disposed in a single diametrical plane. Theslot 28 is longer than the slot 363 for purposes hereinafter appearing.The movable abutment means 32 is in the form of a pivotal lever meanshaving a counterbalance portion 34 and a narrower cup engaging portion36, the latter extending through the slots 28 and as shown in FIGS. 2and 4. The narrower portion 36 has a through bore 38 for receipt of thepivot pin 40 which is mounted to a pair of spaced bracket means 4-2 and44 adjacent to the upper end of the slot 28. The lever means 32 may bemade of nylon or any other suitable material, it being preferred thatthe material is the type which is relatively rigid and has a relativelysmooth surface. The disposition of the through bore 33 for mounting thepivot pin is such that the lever will assume an at-rest position inengagement with the top of slot 3) and the end of the lever means 32extending through the slot 30 is of such length that it may be pivotedso it can completely clear both slots to take a vertically alignedposition to tube portion 20 such as shown in FIG. 5. The exact amount ofmaterial by which portion 34 exceeds the amount of material 36 may bevaried to suit depending upon the number of cups desired to beaccumulated. Further, additional counterweights may be hung if desiredon portion 34 as is apparent. In cups of the type and size shown in FIG.2, it has been found in actual practice that it is desirable toaccumulate at least four or five cups in stacked nested relation asshown in FIG. 5, the accumulated weight thereof being sufficient tocause the lever to pivot to the position shown in FIG. 5. A stack offive cups gives sufiicient axial dimension to the plurality of cups sothat the bottommost cup will not become cocked relative to the groovedrollers in the rim rolling apparatus. As will be apparent, the levermeans is work dependent rather than time dependent. In other words, itis the weight of the accumulated cups themselves which causes the leverto move so as to clear the tube to allow the cups to drop on down forentry into the rim rolling apparatus. The speed of the rim rollingapparatus is such that if a cup should come through the tube while thelever is startingto return to the position shown in FIG. 2, the cup willbecome centered on a cup which has not yet reached the entering threadson the rim rolling apparatus. In other Words, there is sufficient heightbetween the bottom of the uppermost cup in a stack which has passed thelever so that as the lever starts to clear same as versus the speed ofthe rim rolling apparatus such that if a cup comes down while the leveris returning and causes it to again swing out to the position shown inFIG. 5, the cup will not hit the entering thread but will hit the cupsthat are still awaiting entry into the rim rolling apparatus. Cocking isprevented because the relatively greater dimension of the mouth of thecup relative to the narrower dimension of the bottom causes a latecoming cup to center itself on the next cup so that it will not in turnbe cocked when it reaches the rim rolling apparatus.

The rim rolling station 24 is adapted to roll the rim area 48 of the cup8 having the rather sharp edge 50 which is spaced from the side wall 54on the cup 8. This edge 59 is turned back toward the mouth portion 52 toprovide'the rolled bead 56 shown in FIG. 6B. The rim rolling apparatusessentially comprises a plurality of axroller has a spiral groove suchas shown at 62, the width of which varies progressively along the axialextent so that at 64 it is smaller in size to cause the rim to be rolledinto the closed formation as shown in FIG. 6B. The disposition of thegrooves 62 near the top of the roller is such as to cause a slightdenesting of adjacent containers in the stack received from theaccumulator means so that each cup is individually free of the nextadjacent cup during the rim rolling operation. It is important to notethat the grooves 62 and 64 are such as to cause only axial forces onportions 50 and 52 of the cup rather than supplying any radially inwardcomponent of force. This is important because essentially there isnothing to provide a reaction force to the rela-' tively open mouth ofthe container in area 48 during the rim rolling operation and if theforces are not all substantially axial on portions 5t and 52, the netresult is to cause the container to go through the rim rolling apparatuswithout any change in form. The heating of at least one and preferablyall of the rollers serves to cause the plastic material to becomemoldable to aid in deformation thereof so as to retain its finallydeformed shape 55. It will be noted that the narrowing of the width ofthe grooves 62 at 64 is such as to provide a camming action upon the rimportion 48 of the cup as it is received from the accumulator.

It is to be understood that the specific embodiment of the invention asherein shown and described is for illustrative purposes only. Variouschanges in structure will no doubt occur to those skilled in the art andare to be understood as forming a part of this invention insofar as itfollows in the spirit and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The method of automatically rolling rims on thin flexible taperedcontainers having a Wide mouth portion and a closed end portioncomprising the steps of orienting the individual containers so that themouth thereof all face substantially the same direction, pneumaticallymoving the oriented containers along the axis of the containers whilepreventing radial movement thereof to an accumulator station toaccumulate a predetermined number of containers in nested stackedrelation to provide a stack of predetermined height, releasing thepredetermined height stack of containers responsive to the weightthereof to rim rolling rollers having spiral grooves therein, thestacked containers as a stack providing self orientation to preventcross threading engagement of individual containers with the spiralgrooves in said rim rolling rollers.

2. Apparatus for preventing cocking of individual nestable taperedcontainers having a wide mouth being fed to a rim rolling apparatusadapted to roll rim beads on thin flexible plastic containers comprisingtube means for receipt of intermittently supplied individual c0ntainers,an accumulator means associated with and forming an abutment means insaid tube means, and a rim rolling station means adjacent the output endof said tube means, said accumulator means comprising abutment meansresponsive to the presence of a plurality of containers in nestedrelationship operable to move to a noninterrupting position outside ofsaid tube means upon the accumulation of a predetermined number ofcontainers at said station, said abutment means being movable in a planeparallel with the axis of said tube means,

said plurality of containers in nested relationship as a group providinga self-orientation preventing cocking of the individual containers.

3. Apparatus for automatically forming a rolled under lip on a platsiccup or the like of the type having a side wall terminating in anoutwardly and downwardly projecting circumferential rim, said apparatuscomprising tube means for receiving individual cups intermittentlyindividually fed in an oriented manner from a source, rim rolling meanscomprising cam means for engaging said rim, said means including aplurality of rollers, each of said rollers carrying a spiral groovewhich receives said rim, means for heating selected rollers, drive meansoperating said camming means to progressively deflect the rim towardsaid side wall as the cup is made to revolve about its own axis whilebeing fed through said rollers, and accumulator means located at astation vertically above said rim rolling means, said accumulator meanscomprising tube means having a portion disposed in a substantiallyvertical plane, first and second diamet' rically opposed slot meansformed in the side walls of the tube means and aligned with the axis ofsaid tube means, said first slot means having an axial dimension atleast as great as the diameter of said tube means, bracket means mountedexteriorly of said first slot means, and lever means movably mounted onsaid bracket means having a first portion extending through said firstand second slot means and a second portion exterior of said first slotmeans, said first portion of said lever means having a normal at-restposition extending across said tube means to provide a movable abutmentfor retaining containers moving in said tube means, said lever meansremaining at said at-rest position until the accumulation of apredetermined number of containers in stacked nested relationshipaligned thereon whereupon the lever means piovts out of the Way to feedsaid cups to said rim rolling means, the stack of containers sopresented to the rim rolling apparatus preventing cross threading of theindividual containers during the rolling of the rim thereon.

4. Apparatus for automatically rolling rims on thin, flexible containersof the nestable variety comprising means at a station for orientingcontainers received from an intermittent source, means transporting theoriented containers as intermitently received from the orienting stationto an accumulator station, means at the accumulator station forautomatically accumulating a preselected number of containers in nestedrelationship and upon attainment of that number releasing theaccumulated containers for movement as a group to a rim rolling station,and means at the rim rolling station axially aligned with saidaccrunulator means for receiving the accumulated containers and rollingrims thereon, said nested group of containers preventing individualcontainer misalignment at said rim rolling station.

5. The method of forming a rolled under lip on nestable plastic cups orthe like of the type each having a tapering side wall and terminating inan outwardly and downwardly projecting circumferential rim, which methodis characterized by the steps of individually orienting the cups andintermittently moving same to an accumulator station, accumulating apredetermined number of cups in a nested stack of predetermined heightat said accumulator station, releasing the stacked cups and directingthe same along a predetermined path to a rim rolling station located insaid predetermined path upon the accumulation of a predetermined numberof stacked cups, slightly de-nesting said cups at said rim rollingstation in sequence to allow free relative rotation thereof whilesimultaneously engaging the rim of each individual cup on the top andbottom portions thereof at a plurality of spaced positions, andprogressively bringing the engaged portions together in order to deflectsaid bottom portion toward said top portion and toward said side wall,the feeding of said cups in a nested stack preventing cockedrelationship of individual cups at the means for engaging the individualcups during the de-nesting thereof.

6. A method of automatically forming a rolled under lip on nestableplastic cups or the like of the type each having a tapering side wallterminating in an outwardly and downwardly projecting circumferentialrim, which method is characterized by the steps of moving individualcontainers intermittently received from a source toward an accumulatorstation, accumulating a predetermined number of cups at said station innested stacked relation, releasing said cups from said accumulatorstation responsive to the presence of a predetermined number of cups anddirecting said cups along a predetermined path, and sequentiallyengaging the rims of said cups on the top and bottom portions thereof insaid predetermined path and at a plurality of equally arcuately spacedpositions in a manner to progressively bring the engaged portionstogether in order to deflect said bottom portion toward said top portionand toward said side wall, the accumulation of the cups in nested arraypreventing individual misalignment of the cups while engaging same toroll the rims thereon.

References (fitted by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 341,552 5/86Carter 1856 1,961,191 6/34 Bliss 221-- 2,205,192 6/40 Fry 2211052,402,091 6/46 Spraker 221295 XR 2,532,844 12/50 Hulbert et al 18192,559,365 7/51 Middleton et al. 1819 2,892,217 6/59 Luboshez l8563,086,822 4/63 Fibish 3022 3,096,546 7/ 63 Edwards 1819 FOREIGN PATENTS1,200,392 6/ 5 9 France.

WILLIAM J. STEPHENSON, Primary Examiner.

ALEXANDER H. BRODMERKEL, Examiner.

2. APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING COCKING OF INDIVIDUAL NESTABLE TAPEREDCONTAINERS HAVING A WIDE MOUTH BEING FED TO A RIM ROLLING APPARATUSADAPTED TO ROLL RIM BEADS ON THIN FLEXIBLE PLASTIC CONTAINERS COMPRISINGTUBE MEANS FOR RECEIPT OF INTERMITTENTLY SUPPLIED INDIVIDUAL CONTAINERS,AN ACCUMULATOR MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH AND FORMING AN ABUTMENT MEANS INSAID TUBE MEANS, AND A RIM ROLLING STATION MEANS ADJACENT THE OUTPUT ENDOF SAID TUBE MEANS, SAID ACCUMULATOR MEANS COMPRISING ABUTMENT MEANSRESPONSIVE TO THE PRESENCE OF A PLURALITY OF CONTAINERS IN NESTEDRELATIONSHIP OPERABLE TO MOVE TO A NONINTERRUPTING POSITION OUTSIDE OFSAID TUBE MEANS UPON